Going to AnthroCon 2003!

For those of you that I haven't told already, I'm actually going to AnthroCon 2003, which I wasn't planning on even going to, since I usually can't swing the airfare. It was about $500when I went in 2001, and after the utterly awful time we had trying to fly back from Philly (cancelled flight, rude airline check-in guy, rebooked flight, bumped from flight, stayed overnight at hotel, flew back on red-eye the next day, flight was repeatedly delayed) I didn't go to AC last year. This year, especially, I wasn't planning on going, as Comic-Con 2003 is the same weekend.

But then Hugg E Bear and TerraLuna aren't going to Comic-Con, so it won't be nearly as fun as it was last year; So I was kind of up in the air about what to do.

But then </a></b></a>diadexxus posted about how she actually found a flight for only $354. A few beers and mouse clicks later, I got on the same plane flight, and to my surprise, I'm suddenly going to AC 2003!

Lots of people I want to see there that I never get the chance to see, if only online. Pacer, SK-1, StealthAce, my namesake from Canada, and all the East Coast Furs that I never get a chance to hang out with. Should be loads of fun, even if Philly will be deathly hot.

Now that I've been to AC two years ago, I now know what to expect, so I can plan accordingly..

- The stores there are called "ACME", but I still have yet to see any coyotes shop there. (Would make a great picture though).

- This time I'm getting a shuttle bus to SFO, rather than go through the adventure of parking in Northern Millbrae to try to get back to the airport in time. Terraluna had a helluva time with this one two years ago when we went up there together.

- Beer is illegal in Pennsylvania. Can't buy it in the grocery store, or even the liquor store (that's right, even the liquor store can't carry it). You have to go to a run-down speakeasy behind a wall about 4 miles from the hotel, tell them Spike sent you, and then you can only buy one six-pack of Rolling Rock. And watch out since you might get busted for possession of 3.2% "Cereal Malt Beverage". I am currently arranging for certain parties to smuggle beer into the state, disguised inside a hollowed-out bathtub and a fursuit box with a hidden compartment under the false bottom.

- Lots and lots of people in Philadelphia look like Latrell Sprewell. We kept pulling up to the stoplight and every single person in the car next to us looked like either Sprewell or Alllen Iverson. I thought it was in honor of the Sixers making the playoffs or something.

- Avoid the elevators at all costs - the elevators at the Adam's Mark Hotel are rope-drawn by anemic mules behind the building that should have been put out of their misery a long time ago. Yes, I know, I've heard the elevators aren't going to be Elevator Con Hell this year, we'll see. I plan to bring a cable-drawn gurney that I can mount on the roof and just do a Mission Impossible sort of wireclimb to the hotel room. In 2001, I actually took the stairs up to my room on the 22nd floor, and it was way faster than the elevator.